Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock Essay Example for Free
Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock Essay There are several aspects to Alexander Pope’s poem, The Rape of the Lock which cement it as a unique and important work. Not only do Pope’s use of imagery and other literary tools create a landscape of the world which is represented here, but Pope also creates the feeling of total emersion into the story for the reader.            There are also many individual issues, within the work itself, which utilize their social standing to create emotion for the reader, such as the consumption of drugs throughout The Rape of the Lock. This creates an emotional bond with between the reader and the character within the poem by forcing the reader to make judgments on the characters. This judgment, then, becomes part of the reader’s vision of the world Pope created within the poem.            While the poem itself was called to be written by Pope’s close friend, to end the feud between two families, what Pope succeeds in creating was an epic of lust, debauchery and social posturing. This tale, spun by Alexander Pope, seems just as much a condemnation of the social stratification of his era, as it is a plea for well-born families to put aside their petty squabbles. The events leading up to the writing of the poem, as explained by Pope were:            The stealing of Miss Belle Fermors hair, was taken too seriously, and caused an             estrangement between the two families, though they had lived so long in great friendship      before. A common acquaintance and well    wisher to both desired me to write a poem to              make a jest of it, and laugh them together again. It was with   this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock. (Pope) This partly explains the use of the term â€Å"Rape†in the title. The use of such a strong word to describe such an inane event illustrates Alexander Pope’s fondness of parody – as well as his ability to illustrate the strange and often humorous idiosyncrasies of the wealthy elite.            As Pope begins his five act poem, his first line both questions and accuses the parties involved in the rivalry by asking what â€Å"trivial things†could have been seen as such a â€Å"dire Offence†. The assault which is spoken of by Pope in this first canto is described as being committed by a â€Å"well-bred Lord†upon a â€Å"gentle Belle†. This assault is also questioned, in that Pope asked how a â€Å"Belle†could refuse the advances of such a well-born man. It is the assumption, from this early exchange, that it was socially expected that these two individuals, most certainly due to their social standing, would have no choice but to form a physical union – completely ignoring any personal choice in the matter.            Throughout the first canto, there are several examples of instances where Pope created a strange sense of reality through his use of word choice and order. Calling to attention the vision of a â€Å"birth-night beau†, a very festive and happy image, Pope juxtaposes the idea of non-consensual relations and enters into a dream-state. The allusions that Pope creates here are a very white and pure scene. The use of imagery such as the slippers, â€Å"silver sound†, and Belinda laying her head against her â€Å"downy pillow†creates a setting of safety and warmth.            In line twenty four of the first canto, the poem begins to take on a decidedly fantastic feel. This is used to create the sense that Belinda is truly a slothful person. As she arises at noon, the reader is told that she returns to sleep – creating a sense of an unpressured and possibly spoiled girl with no responsibilities.            The dreams of Belinda are also illustrated here. Pope mentions several types of fantastic characters in this section which illustrate the unrealistic world Belinda inhabits. The angels and elves which Pope mentions number in the thousands – and through them, illustrate the mental age of Belinda – that of a child. These creatures also set up the meaning of the first canto, the warning of Belinda.            In the clear Mirror of thy ruling Star I saw, alas! some dread Event impend, Ere to the Main this Morning Sun descend. But Heavn reveals not what, or how, or where: Warnd by thy Sylph, oh Pious Maid beware! This to disclose is all thy Guardian can. Beware of all, but most beware of Man! (Pope 1.108-114) This warning shows the reader, in Pope’s mock-epic style, that some sort of tragedy is about to unfold for Belinda.            This fantastical illustration continues through the end of the first canto. Pope uses the personification of the items in Belinda’s room to create the creatures which she sees through her dreams. Line 135 is a perfect example of this as Pope writes: â€Å"The Tortoise here and Elephant unite, / Transform’d to Combs†. It is obvious to the reader that Pope is describing a tortoise shell and ivory comb. However, in the dream world of Belinda, this object is represented by its literal components before losing this personification and becoming a tool to create Belinda’s physical beauty.            The second canto is used to by Pope to illustrate the importance of hair to the physical beauty of Belinda. Her majestic persona is described by Pope in order to place a heavy weight on the locks of hair she will eventually lose to the impetuous Lord.            Pope exaggerates Belinda’s physical attractiveness and the attractiveness of her jewelry as well. Though she is surrounded by many well presented youths, all adorned in splendor, â€Å"evry Eye was fixd on her alone†(Pope 2.6) Her physical beauty, as Pope describes it, is accentuated by the cross around her neck – which was so spectacular that â€Å"Jews might kiss, and Infidels adore†. (2.8) The power of a piece of jewelry to overcome religious conviction is very unlikely, however, for Pope, this is a perfect way to illustrate the perceived power of high social standing of the wealthy elite. For the members of the elite families of England, the importance of visual presentation cannot be over-stated, not even when compared to religion. Though the symbol she wears is a Christian icon, its beauty – both from its construction and the fact that it is being worn by a young girl of such attractiveness as Belinda, it could seemingly convert Jews and heathens from their chosen dogmas.            It is also in canto two that the Baron, who will perpetrate the rape of the lock, is introduced. Lines twenty nine and thirty of the second canto reads: â€Å"Th Adventrous Baron the bright Locks admird, / He saw, he wishd, and to the Prize aspird†. This introduction of the Lord creates an interesting situation for the reader. Despite the several dozen lines of text which describe the beauty of Belinda’s clothing, jewelry as well as her physical features, it is the locks of hair that hang against her neck which the Baron first sets eyes upon, and subsequently longs for.            The first feelings of the Baron are shown to be violent in nature.            Resolvd to win, he meditates the way,                By Force to ravish, or by Fraud betray;                For when Success a Lovers Toil attends,                Few ask, if Fraud or Force attaind his Ends.                (2.31-34) This illustration of the man’s intent shows the reader that the Baron does not visualize the hair on Belinda as a part of Belinda – if he recognizes Belinda at all. The hair that hangs on her neck, however, is instantly revered as a stately prize.            It is also through this section that the locks of hair are given a sexual persona. At no time does the Baron speak, or think of Belinda as a source of joy, but rather her hair as an all encompassing quest. The immediacy of the Baron’s passion for the locks of Belinda’s hair illustrates a very important aspect of his personality – the trophy is more important than the conquest. It is the intent of the Baron to display the locks of hair, as one would display a commendation. The locks of would signify the physical conquest of the beauty of Belinda – whether or not that conquest ever actually occurred.            The signification given to the locks of hair on Belinda’s head is that of her chastity. By removing them, the Baron, in so much as it was seen in the times, had given Belinda the equivalent of a badge of promiscuity. The path through which the Baron achieves his goal, is illustrated through a card game. though this game is seemingly innocuous, it symbolizes to very distinct and overt actions – the first being war, with the direct imagery within the poem, and the other being sex, by the eventual winning of the locks of chastity by the Baron.            The victory of the card game enables the Baron to cut the locks of hair from Belinda’s head. This action, keeping with the tone of the title of the poem, is illustrated violently – though the reality of the action was certainly far less extraordinary.            The Peer now spreads the glittring Forfex wide,                Tinclose the Lock; now joins it, to divide.                Evn then, before the fatal Engine closd,                A wretched Sylph too fondly interposd;                Fate urgd the Sheers, and cut the Sylph in twain,                (But Airy Substance soon unites again)                The meeting Points that sacred Hair dissever                From the fair Head, for ever and for ever!                (3.147-154) The words used by Pope in this stanza are undoubtedly violent. Though the Baron is removing the hair with the pressured permission of Belinda, Pope chooses to paint this scene as though the Baron was attacking her, killing her, and/or ravaging her body. Pope also uses strange images to create the picture in the reader’s mind. Line 148 states that the scissors were closed around the hair, cutting it; however, the language chosen by Pope creates the image of both conjunction and disjunction.            This stanza is followed by:            Then flashd the living Lightnings from her Eyes,                And Screams of Horror rend th affrighted Skies.                Not louder Shrieks to pitying Heavn are cast,                When Husbands or when Lap-dogs breath their last,                Or when rich China Vessels, faln from high,                In glittring Dust and painted Fragments lie!                (3.155-160) This violence that is being spoken of here, as intended by Pope, creates the feeling of murder, and military conquest. The emotions that Pope takes advantage of here, are for the express purpose of illustrating the over-exaggerated weight placed in the locks of hair. This scene is intentionally written so violently, as to show the reader that the members of this social stratum have little understanding of the true importance of things – such as locks of hair.            Throughout canto four, Pope makes several allusions to the act of torture. It is the intent of these lines to show the reader that the taking of the locks of hair, for Belinda, however insignificant as they may truly be, was a painful and violating event. Meanwhile, the Baron, himself, calls into question the validity of the social significance of the hair: â€Å"While the Fops envy, and the Ladies stare! / Honour forbid! at whose unrivald Shrine / Ease, Pleasure, Virtue, All, our Sex resign†. (4.104-107)            The remainder of the poem, for Pope, further illustrates the illogical amount of importance placed on the loss of Belinda’s hair. The insistence that â€Å"Fate and Jove†where in the audience of this event, illustrates for the reader that the society which Pope is lampooning here feels that the Christian God and the pagan gods would be affronted by witnessing such a horrible action. Pope also suggests that the loss of Belinda’s locks would be of such great importance to the surrounding women in her life that their own lives would come to a halt – â€Å"For who cam move when fair Belinda fails?†(5.4)            Pope offers no redemption for the couple, or the society they inhabit. By line ninety-four of the fifth canto, Belinda and the Baron engage in actual combat. Pope uses this fight to further illustrate the complexity of this society’s skewed priorities.             Now meet thy Fate, incensd Belinda cryd,                And drew a deadly Bodkin from her Side.                (The same, his ancient Personage to deck,                Her great great Grandsire wore about his Neck                In three Seal-Rings which after, melted down,                Formd a vast Buckle for his Widows Gown:                Her infant Grandames Whistle next it grew,                The Bells she gingled, and the Whistle blew;                Then in a Bodkin gracd her Mothers Hairs,                Which long she wore, and now Belinda wears.)                (5.86-96) The fact that the petite and beautiful Belinda pulls a blade from her side, and attacks the Baron with it, is against the idea of the age – where men are the fighters and women are weak in and in need of protection.            This attack by the young maiden is followed by the powerful Baron’s begging for his life â€Å"ah, let me survive†. (5.101) This, again, goes against the expectations of the reader, creating a setting of irrationality. These actions by Pope to create this skewed reality, are effective in forcing the reader to see the entire world of The Rape of the Lock as improbable.            Throughout the poem, Pope utilizes the tools of the ancient epic poems to create a sense of importance and truth to the work. Just as Homer had with his Iliad, Pope creates a tale of heroic and historical importance. However, this is simply a ploy to expose the utter lack of importance of the issue at hand. The entirety of the poem is an exaggeration of the expectations of the reader, and their knowledge of history and poetic license.            The complexity of Pope’s couplet rhyming as well as the loose iambic lines, suggest that the work is meant to be seen just as the historical epics had been. However, the use of exaggerated metaphors and unlikely situations confront that sense of importance – and overpower it. The voice that Pope uses throughout the poem allows the reader to feel at ease with the untrustworthiness of the narrator.            It was the intent of Alexander Pope to illustrate a situation in which a ludicrous amount of importance was placed on a fairly insignificant object – hair. Though the fact is never revealed within the poem, hair regrows naturally. This means that regardless of the taking of the hair by the Baron, given ample time, the hair would be replaced and the event completely forgotten. However, as with the strain between the two families for which Pope was inspired to write about, the event was seen as somewhat of a major catastrophe. WORKS CITED Pope, Alexander. The Rape of the Lock. University of Massachusetts. Date of access: April 27, 2007. URL: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sconstan/index.html
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Video Games in Popular Culture: an Exposition Essay -- Violent Gaming
Imagine for a moment, a world of death. For 200 years your family has been sealed away with a thousand other people, to protect you from the dangers outside. Now your father has disappeared, and it’s up to you to find him. After a harrowing escape from your subterranean home, you walk through a tunnel to the outside world, past dead bodies, stretched out in front of the door, as if to say â€Å"don’t leave us out here to die!†As you walk through the gate to the outside, and as your eyes slowly adjust to the sun you have never seen, a wasteland emerges before you. The world is devastated, destroyed and annihilated. Broken twisted hunks of metal lie next to a sign on the side of the mountain saying â€Å"scenic overlook†on your right, the broken remains of the interstate bridge stand as a monument to a destroyed culture. Petrified trees are all that remains of the local fauna. Off in the distance, all that remains is destruction. While you may think of this stunning visualization of a wonderful novel, this is actually one of the opening scenes from Todd Howard and Bethesda Game Studios’ â€Å"Fallout 3.†An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called â€Å"NIM†. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu... ...lieve that video games in popular culture are a misnomer. Videogames are not â€Å"in†popular culture, they are â€Å"a part of†popular culture, just like TV, radio, and motion pictures. Bibliography 1.) Kutner, Lawrence Ph.D. and Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do . 1st. Simon & Schuster, 2008. 2.) "2008 SALES, DEMOGRAPHIC AND USAGE DATA." www.theesa.com. Jul/2008. Entertainment Software Association. 2 Nov 2008 . 3.) Hillis, Scott . "Video games don't create killers, new book says." Reuters UK 09May2008 2 Nov 2008 . 4.) "History of video games." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2001. 2 Nov 2008 .
Sunday, January 12, 2020
How to Right a Paper
ppendix D: Individual Skills Assessment Questionnaire for the Instructor Directions: The following questionnaire contains the Individual Skills Assessment that must be administered to each student individually as a panel interview. Print enough copies of the ISA Questionnaire so that each interviewer has one copy per student before the panel interview begins. Please see the Instructor Guide section of this courseware for complete instructions on how to conduct the interviews. For each topic, start with Learning Level 3. Circle each of the response criteria that the student successfully includes in his or her response.You may use the scoring table at the end of the questionnaire to tally the student’s score. Note: Each topic includes questions at three levels: o Level 3: Synthesis/Evaluation (Most-challenging questions) o Level 2: Application/Analysis (Medium-level questions) o Level 1: Knowledge/Comprehension (Least-difficult questions) Appendix D: Individual Skills Assessment Questionnaire for the Instructor  ©ITT Educational Services, Inc. 104 Date: 01/12/2010 Individual Assessment Skills Questions with Correct Response Criteria Topic 1: HardwareLearning Level 3: Synthesis/Evaluation Question: 1. You are building a LAN in a company that develops insurance management software. What hardware requirements should be taken into consideration? (TB143, IT1220) Correct Response Criteria: The student addresses why each is important: PC resources needed: Memory, disk drive size, processor size Networking resources: Category 5e cable, hub, switch, bridge, router Learning Level 2: Application/Analysis Question: 1. Describe how the memory manager divides up and allocates memory. (TB143, IT103) Correct Response Criteria:The student identifies the following memory concepts and describes how each works: Virtual memory Shared memory Paged memory Contiguous memory Non-contiguous memory Multi-programming Learning Level 1: Knowledge/Comprehension Question: 1. Identify a ll of the different types of input ports is available on a modern computer? (TB143) Correct Response Criteria: The student identifies the following ports: USB Serial Parallel Video /audio RJ45 FireWire Appendix D: Individual Skills Assessment Questionnaire for the Instructor  ©ITT Educational Services, Inc. 05 Date: 01/12/2010 SCSI Topic 2: Programming Learning Level 3: Synthesis/Evaluation Question: 1. Explain the difference between passing a piece of data â€Å"by value†and passing a piece of data â€Å"by reference. †(IT104) Correct Response Criteria: The student identifies the following data types and describes how each piece of data is passed: Parameter Argument Parameter list Data type Compatibility Reference address Learning Level 2: Application/Analysis Question: 1. Explain the â€Å"scope†of a data statement. 2. What are the implications of misidentifying a l
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Sarah Josepha Hale Shaping the Domestic Sphere
Known for: Editor of the 19th centurys most successful womans magazine (and the most popular antebulleum magazine in America), setting standards for style and manners while expanding limits for women within their domestic sphere roles;. Hale was the literary editor of Godeys Ladys Book and promoted Thanksgiving as a national holiday. Shes also credited with writing the childrens ditty, Mary Had a Little Lamb Dates: October 24, 1788 - April 30, 1879 Occupation: editor, writer, promoter of womens educationAlso known as: Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, S. J. Hale Sarah Josepha Hale Biography Born Sarah Josepha Buell, she was born in Newport, New Hampshire, in 1788. Her father, Captain Buell, had fought in the Revolutionary War; with his wife, Martha Whittlesey, he moved to New Hampshire after the war, and they settled on a farm owned by his grandfather. Sarah was born there, third of her parents children. Education: Sarahs mother was her first teacher, passing on to her daughter a love of books and a commitment to the basic education of women in order to educate their families. When Sarahs older brother, Horatio, attended Dartmouth, he spent his summers at home tutoring Sarah in the same subjects he was learning: Latin, philosophy, geography, literature and more. Although colleges were not open to women, Sarah gained the equivalent of a college education. She used her education as a teacher in a private school for boys and girls near her home, from 1806 to 1813, at a time when women as teachers were still rare. Marriage: In October, 1813, Sarah married a young lawyer, David Hale. He continued her education, tutoring her in subjects including French and botany, and they studied and read together in the evenings. He also encouraged her to write for local publication; she later credited his guidance with helping her write more clearly. They had four children, and Sarah was pregnant with their fifth, when David Hale died in 1822 of pneumonia. She wore mourning black the reset of her life in honor of her husband. The young widow, in her mid-30s, left with five children to raise, was without adequate financial means for herself and the children. She wanted to see them educated, and so she sought some means of self-support. Davids fellow Masons helped Sarah Hale and her sister-in-law to start a small millinery shop. But they did not do well at this enterprise, and it soon closed. First Publications: Sarah decided that she would try to earn a living at one of the few vocations available for women: writing. She began submitting her work to magazines and newspapers, and some items were published under the pseudonym Cordelia. In 1823, again with the support of the Masons, she published a book of poems, The Genius of Oblivion, which enjoyed some success. In 1826, she received a prize for a poem, Hymn to Charity, in the Boston Spectator and Ladies Album, for a sum of twenty-five dollars. Northwood: In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale published her first novel, Northwood, a Tale of New England. The reviews and public reception were positive. The novel depicted home life in the early Republic, contrasting how life was lived in the North and in the South. It touched on the issue of slavery, which Hale later called a stain on our national character, and on the growing economic tensions between the two regions. The novel supported the idea of freeing the enslaved and returning them to Africa, settling them in Liberia. The depiction of enslavement highlighted the harm to those enslaved, but also the dehumanization of those who enslaved others or were part of the nation that allowed enslavement. Northwood was the first publication of an American novel written by a woman. The novel caught the eye of an Episcopal minister, the Rev. John Lauris Blake. Editor of Ladies Magazine: The Rev. Blake was starting a new womens magazine out of Boston. There had been about 20 American magazines or newspapers directed at women, but none had enjoyed any real success. Blake hired Sarah Josepha Hale as editor of Ladies Magazine. She moved to Boston, bringing her youngest son with her, The older children were sent to live with relatives or sent to school. The boarding-house in which she stayed also housed Oliver Wendell Holmes. She became friends with much of the Boston-area literary community, including the Peabody sisters. The magazine was billed at the time as the first magazine edited by a woman for women ... either in the Old World or the New. It published poetry, essays, fiction and other literary offerings. The first issue of the new periodical was published in January of 1828. Hale conceived of the magazine as promoting female improvement (she would later come to dislike use of the term female in such contexts). Hale used her column, The Ladys Mentor, to push that cause. She also wanted to promote a new American literature, so rather than publishing, as many periodicals of the time did, primarily reprints of British authors, she solicited and published work from American writers. She wrote a considerable portion of each issue, about half, including essays and poems. Contributors included Lydia Maria Child, Lydia Sigourney and Sarah Whitman. In the first issues, Hale even wrote some of the letters to the magazine, thinly disguising her identity. Sarah Josepha Hale, in accord with her pro-American and anti-Europe stance, also favored a simpler American style of dress over showy European fashions, and refused to illustrate the latter in her magazine. When she was unable to win many converts to her standards, she stopped printing fashion illustrations in the magazine. Separate Spheres: Sarah Josepha Hales ideology was part of what has been called the separate spheres which regarded the public and political sphere as being mans natural place and the home as being womans natural place. Within this conception, Hale used nearly every issue of Ladies Magazine to promote the idea of expanding womens education and knowledge to the fullest extent possible. But she opposed such political involvement as voting, believing that womens influence in the public sphere was through their husbands actions, including at the polling place. Other Projects: During her time with Ladies Magazine -- which she renamed American Ladies Magazine when she discovered there was a British publication with the same name -- Sarah Josepha Hale became involved in other causes. She helped organize womens clubs to raise money to complete the Bunker Hill monument, proudly pointing out that the women were able to raise what the men were unable to. She also helped found the Seamans Aid Society, an organization to support women and children whose husbands and fathers were lost at sea. She also published books of poems and prose. Promoting the idea of music for children, she published a book of her poems appropriate to be sung, including Marys Lamb, known today as Mary Had a Little Lamb. This poem (and others from that book) was reprinted in many other publications in the years that followed, usually without attribution. Mary Had a Little Lamb appeared (without credit) in McGuffeys Reader, where many American children encountered it. Many of her later poems were similarly lifted without credit, including others included in McGuffeys volumes. The popularity of her first book of poems led to another in 1841. Lydia Maria Child had been the editor of a childrens magazine, Juvenile Miscellany, from 1826. Child gave up her editorship in 1834 to a friend, who was Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale edited the magazine without credit until 1835, and continued as editor until the next spring when the magazine folded. Editor of Godeys Ladys Book: In 1837, with the American Ladies Magazine perhaps in financial trouble, Louis A. Godey purchased it, merging it with his own magazine, Ladys Book, and making Sarah Josepha Hale the literary editor. Hale remained in Boston until 1841, when her youngest son graduated from Harvard. Having succeeded in having her children educated, she the nmoved to Philadelphia where the magazine was located. Hale became identified for the rest of her life with the magazine, which was renamed Godeys Ladys Book. Godey himself was a talented promoter and advertiser; Hales editorship provided a sense of feminine gentility and morality to the venture. Sarah Josepha Hale continued, as she had with her previous editorship, to write prolifically to the magazine. Her goal was still to improve the moral and intellectual excellence of women. She still included mostly original material rather than reprints from elsewhere, especially Europe, as other magazines of the time tended to do. By paying authors well, Hale helped contribute to making writing a viable profession. There were some changes from Hales previous editorship. Godey opposed any writing about partisan political issues or sectarian religious ideas, though a general religious sensibility was an important part of the magazines image. Godey fired an assistant editor at Godeys Ladys Book for writing, in another magazine, against slavery. Godey also insisted on the inclusion of lithographed fashion illustrations (often hand-colored), for which the magazine was noted, though Hale opposed including such images. Hale did write on fashion; in 1852 she introduced the word lingerie as a euphemism for undergarments, in writing about what was appropriate for American women to wear. Images featuring Christmas trees helped bring that custom into the average middle-class American home. Women writers in Godeys included Lydia Sigourney, Elizabeth Ellet, and Carline Lee Hentz. Besides many women writers, Godeys published, under Hales editorship, such male authors as Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. In 1840, Lydia Sigourney traveled to London for Queen Victorias wedding to report on it; the Queens white wedding dress became a wedding standard in part because of the reporting in Godeys. Hale focused after time mainly on two departments of the magazine, the Literary Notices and the Editors Table, where she expounded on the moral role and influence of women, womens duties and even superiority, and the importance of womens education. She also promoted expansion of work possibilities for women, including in the medical field -- she was a supporter of Elizabeth Blackwell and her medical training and practice. Hale also supported married womens property rights. By 1861, the publication had 61,000 subscribers, the largest such magazine in the country. In 1865, circulation was 150,000. Causes: Slavery: While Sarah Josepha Hale opposed slavery, she did not support the abolitionists. In 1852, after Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin became popular, she republished her book Northwood as Life North and South: showing the True Character of Both, with a new preface supporting the Union. She was skeptical of complete emancipation, because she did not expect that whites would ever treat the former slaves fairly, and in 1853 published Liberia, which proposed repatriation of slaves to Africa.Suffrage: Sarah Josepha Hale did not support womens suffrage, as she believed that voting was in the public, or male, sphere. She endorsed secret, silence influence of women instead.Education for women: Her support for womens education was an influence on the founding of Vassar College, and has been credited with getting women on the faculty. Hale was close to Emma Willard and supported Willards Troy Female Seminary. She advocated women being trained as teachers in specialty schools of high er education, called normal schools. She supported physical education as part of womens education, countering those who thought women too delicate for physical education.Working women: she came to believe in and advocate for womens ability to enter the work force and be paid.Childrens education: a friend of Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Hale established an Infants School, or kindergarten, to include her youngest son. She remained interested in the kindergarten movement.Fund-raising projects: She supported the Bunker Hill Monument and the restoration of Mount Vernon through fund-raising and organizing efforts.Thanksgiving: Sarah Josepha Hale promoted the idea of establishing a national Thanksgiving holiday; after her efforts convinced President Lincoln to declare such a holiday, she continued to promote the inclusion of Thanksgiving as a distinctive and unifying national cultural event by sharing recipes for turkey, cranberries, potatoes, oysters and more, and even promoted proper att ire for a family Thanksgiving.National unity: Thanksgiving was among the ways that Sarah Josepha Hale promoted peace and unity, even before the Civil War, when, despite the ban on partisan politics in Godeys Ladys Book, she published poetry showing the awful effects on children and women of war.She came to dislike the term female used for women, an animal term for gender, saying Females, indeed! They might have been sheep! She persuaded Matthew Vassar and the New York State Legislature to change the name of Vassar from Vassar female College to Vassar College.Writing of expanding rights and the moral authority of women, she also came to write that men were evil and women were good, by nature, with womens mission to bring that goodness to men. More Publications: Sarah Josepha Hale continued to publish prolifically beyond the magazine. She published poetry of her own, and edited poetry anthologies. In 1837 and 1850, she published poetry anthologies that she edited, including poems by American and British women. An 1850 quotations collection was 600 pages long. Some of her books, especially in the 1830s through 1850s, were published as gift books, an increasingly popular holiday custom. She also published cookbooks and household advice books. Her most popular book was Floras Interpreter, first published in 1832, a kind of gift book featuring flower illustrations and poetry. Fourteen editions followed, through 1848, then it was given a new title and three more editions through 1860. The book Sarah Josepha Hale herself said was the most important she wrote was a 900-page book of over 1500 brief biographies of historical women, Womens Record: Sketches of Distinguished Women. She published this first in 1853, and revised it several times. Later Years and Death: Sarahs daughter Josepha ran a girls school in Philadelphia from 1857 until she died in 1863. In her last years, Hale had to fight against charges that she had plagiarized the Marys Lamb poem. The last serious charge came two years after her death, in 1879; a letter Sarah Josepha Hale sent to her daughter about her authorship, written just days before she died, helped to clarify her authorship. While not all agree, most scholars accept her authorship of that well-known poem. Sarah Josepha Hale retired in December 1877, at age 89, with a final article in Godeys Ladys Book to honor her 50 years as an editor of the magazine. Thomas Edison, also in 1877, recorded the speech on phonograph, using Hales poem, Marys Lamb. She continued to live in Philadelphia, dying less than two years later at her home there. She is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. The magazine continued until 1898 under new ownership, but never with the success it had had under Godeys and Hales partnership. Sarah Josepha Hale Family, Background: Mother: Martha WhittleseyFather: Captain Gordon Buell, farmer; was Revolutionary War soldierSiblings: four brothers Marriage, Children: Husband: David Hale (lawyer; married October 1813, died 1822)Five children, including:David HaleHoratio HaleFrances HaleSarah Josepha HaleWilliam Hale (youngest son) Education: Homeschooled by her mother, who was well-educated and believed in educating girlsTaught at home by her brother Horatio, who taught her Latin, philosophy, literature and more, based on his curriculum at DartmouthContinued to read and study with husband after their marriage
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